Cover Story: Katharine Graham, CEO - On view in the Joyce B. Cowin Women's History Gallery May 21 - October 3, 2021

Cover Story: Katharine Graham, CEO
                 On view in the Joyce B. Cowin Women’s History Gallery
                                May 21 – October 3, 2021

                                            Selected PR Images

The New-York Historical Society celebrates the extraordinary life and career of Katharine Graham (1917-2001), who
made history leading the Washington Post at a turning point in modern American life. Cover Story: Katharine
Graham, CEO charts how Graham’s life trajectory changed in the wake of her husband’s death, as she went on to
become one of the most influential figures in 20th-century American journalism, business, and politics. The
monumental publishing decisions Graham made at the helm of the Washington Post—helping to end a war and a
corrupt U.S. presidency—are brought to life through a host of photographs, letters, costumes, and objects. The
exhibition explores how—as writer and filmmaker Nora Ephron once remarked—Graham’s “journey from daughter
to wife to widow to woman parallels to a surprising degree the history of women in this century.” Featured items
include stylish outfits and ephemera from writer Truman Capote’s legendary 1966 Black and White masquerade
ball, held in Graham’s honor at the Plaza Hotel and dubbed the “Party of the Century.”

Woman of the Year in Economy and Business:
Katharine Graham, 1973
Bettmann/Getty Images

In 1963, Katharine Meyer Graham, a self-effacing
daughter, wife, and mother, assumed control of the
Washington Post. It marked the beginning of a pivotal
period in her transformative life, as she grew into an
influential figure in journalism, business, and politics. By
the time Nixon resigned in August 1974, she said: “I had
warmed up to a degree of toughness of which I
probably wouldn’t have been capable the year before… I
was much more willing to go on the offensive rather
than be defensively polite.”

Marion S. Trikosko, photographer
Katharine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post,
holding an issue of Newsweek, April 7, 1976
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

With the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971,
Graham took a principled stand for press freedom and
became a household name. Two years later, Graham
backed the Post’s investigation of the Watergate break-
in and subsequent cover-up, implicating Richard Nixon’s
re-election campaign, the White House, and eventually
Nixon himself, leading to the first-ever Presidential
resignation.

Katharine Graham speaks to newsroom employees
during pressmen’s strike, 1975
Linda Wheeler / The Washington Post via Getty Images

As the Post shifted from a private family-owned company
to a publicly-traded media conglomerate, its craft unions—
including typographers, printers, and pressmen—objected
to management’s focus on profit margins and
shareholders. The ensuing strike caused deep bitterness on
both sides. In December, the pressmen’s union rejected
Graham’s final settlement offer and she made permanent
replacements—including Black, women, and Vietnamese
workers, a significant difference from the predominantly
white, all-male Pressman’s Local.

Ruth Henderlider to Katharine Graham, March 1, 1966
Library of Congress Manuscripts Division

Of all her professional duties, Graham found public
speaking the most challenging. Nevertheless, it was “part
of the job description” so she delivered speeches, she
recalled, with her knees quivering. In March 1966, the
Women’s City Club of Cleveland invited her to speak on
“The Status of Women.” Graham responded: “I am
inevitably saddled with this subject,” adding that it was
one in which she was “not interested nor educated,” and
gave remarks on the status of newspapers instead. The
club secretary wrote a supportive note afterwards, urging
Graham: “Don’t be camera or mike shy anymore!”

Dorothy Butler Gilliam, 1962
Harry Naltchayan /The Washington Post/via Getty
Images

Dorothy Butler Gilliam (b. 1936) was the only Black
woman in her class at Columbia University’s School of
Journalism before becoming the first Black woman hired
by the Washington Post in 1961. Gilliam worked on the
city desk until 1966, when she quit to care for her
children. Returning to the Post in 1972, Gilliam spent
seven years as the Style section’s first Black woman
editor before becoming the paper’s first Black woman
columnist.

Eleanor Lambert, 1963
Associated Press

Publicist Eleanor Lambert (1903-2003) was one of the
most important behind-the-scenes figures in 20th-
century fashion history. Throughout her long career,
Lambert spotlighted American designers and
established New York as an international fashion
capital. She created the International Best-Dressed Hall
of Fame, the Council of Fashion Designers of America,
Press Week (now New York Fashion Week) and the
Costume Institute Benefit—better known today as the
Met Gala.

Invitation to the Black and White Ball, 1966
Museum of the City of New York, 66.113.1

In January 1966, Truman Capote published In Cold
Blood, a “nonfiction novel” about a brutal quadruple
murder in a small Kansas town. Capote had spent nearly
six years on the project, interviewing and befriending
investigators, lawyers, locals—and the two killers, even
attending their execution. Capote planned his high-
profile Black and White Ball to keep his name in the
public eye. To avoid the appearance of crass self-
promotion, he telephoned Katharine Graham and
announced: “Honey, I just decided you’re depressed and
need cheering up, so I’m going to give you a party.”

Bernard Gotfryd (1924-2016), photographer
Katharine Graham and Truman Capote at the Black
and White Ball, November 28, 1966
Patricia D. Klingenstein Library, New-York Historical
Society

“Why was I the guest of honor? Who knows?” Graham
wrote. Capote was already close to many wealthy,
fashionable society women. “I suppose he chose me
because I didn’t conflict with all the glamorous women
he knew,” Graham acknowledged. As a relative
outsider, she was an uncontroversial yet still
newsworthy choice. “Though I obviously appreciated it
and loved the role, I was terribly nervous,” she later
recalled.

Halston (1932-1990), designer
Mask worn by Katharine Graham, 1966
Wool, plastic beads
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Katharine Graham,
1994.334b

Graham went to Bergdorf Goodman in 1966 to buy her
ensemble for the Black and White Ball. “For one magic
night I was transformed,” she wrote. Her mask was one
of many created for the event by Halston, who was then
Bergdorf’s resident milliner, famous for creating
Jacqueline Kennedy’s iconic pillbox hats.

Black and White Ball, Plaza Hotel, 1966
© Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos

The masquerade prompted months of frenzied
speculation—who among Capote’s fashionable crowd of
socialites, artists, intellectuals, and celebrities would
receive the coveted invitations? By November 28, 1966,
as guests, onlookers, and journalists crowded into the
Plaza Hotel, “there was a slight note of insanity about
the party,” Graham recalled. Legendary to this day,
Capote’s ball introduced Graham to new networks of
influential people, and her social profile skyrocketed.

Truman Capote and Katharine Graham at the Black and
White Ball; Charlotte Curtis in the background, 1966
Harry Benson / Hulton Archive via Getty Images

The lasting significance of the Black and White Ball lay in
Capote’s innovative mixture of different elite circles:
American “swans” and European aristocrats; writers,
publishers, and editors; academics, politicians, and
diplomats; intellectuals, artists, and stars of Broadway
and Hollywood—leavened with an investigator from
Kansas, Capote’s doorman, and Graham’s personal
assistant. Surrounded by glamour, wealth, influence, and
power, Graham later recalled the ball as a very big and
important event for her. Though she had never met most
of the attendees before, many stayed in her life.

Bergdorf Goodman (founded 1899), maker
Evening gown worn by Brooke Astor, 1966
Lace, net, satin, silk, velvet
Museum of the City of New York, 67.118

Brooke Astor was among the guests at the Black and White
Ball. New York’s elite women have a long history of using
charitable giving as a way to influence public policy. Few had
access to as much wealth as the Astors, descendants of the
country’s first multimillionaire. Under Brooke Astor’s active
leadership, the Astor Foundation became a major
philanthropic presence in New York City for many decades,
supporting youth services, community restoration, and the
New York Public Library.

Shannon Rodgers (1911-1996), designer
Evening cape created for Joan Crawford, 1966
Velvet, rhinestones
Silverman/Rodgers Collection, Kent State University
Museum, 1983.001.0641

For much of her career, Joan Crawford was one of
Hollywood’s top earners. She also received three Best Actress
nominations, winning for Mildred Pierce in 1945. As she
aged, Crawford found work harder to come by. Nevertheless,
Crawford clearly expected to go to the Black and White Ball.
Although Shannon Rodgers designed this cape for the
occasion, no evidence suggests that Capote—who
notoriously teased, “Maybe you’ll be invited and maybe you
won’t”—ever extended an invitation to her.

Eleanor Holmes Norton (center) and Newsweek women
at press conference, 1970
Bettmann/Getty Images

Newsweek’s first cover story on the women’s liberation
movement appeared on March 23, 1970. It was not a
coincidence that 46 women employees of Newsweek,
represented by Eleanor Holmes Norton (then an ACLU
attorney), filed a complaint with the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission on the same day. The women’s
allegations of discrimination in hiring, promotions, and
salaries were supported by the fact that Newsweek hired
a freelancer to write “Women in Revolt,” as there were
no women writers on staff considered senior enough to
handle the story. When Katharine Graham heard the
news, she asked: “Which side am I supposed to be on?”

Reporters Michael B. Hodge, Ivan C. Brandon,
LaBarbara A. Bowman, Leon Dash, Penny Micklebury,
Ronald A. Taylor, Richard Prince, and attorney Clifford
Alexander, March 23, 1972
Ellsworth Davis/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The first journalists in U.S. history to challenge an
employer on the grounds of racial discrimination were a
group of Black Washington Post Metro section writers,
who filed a complaint with the EEOC on March 23, 1972.
The “Metro Seven” (originally eight) inspired the women
of the Post to file a similar complaint, supported by the
Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. Graham would
later acknowledge that neither the Post nor Newsweek
dealt with African American and women employees
“with much sensitivity, understanding, or skill.”

Katharine Graham on the AP Board, 1975
Associated Press

While the Pentagon Papers, Watergate investigation, and
pressmen’s strike helped forge Graham into a renowned
media executive, the women’s liberation movement also
changed her profoundly. Years of being the only woman in
the room had left her feeling “pretty well squelched.” As
late as 1969, Graham said in an interview that she thought
“a man would be better at this job I’m in than a woman.”

Gloria Steinem and Katharine Graham, 1974
Bettmann/Getty Images

Graham credited Gloria Steinem with helping her
understand that women had a right to a frame of reference
“other than that we were put on earth to catch a man, hold
him, and please him.” She also acknowledged her
responsibility to do something about the women’s
movement’s goals. From investing $20,000 in Ms. magazine
to pushing all-male institutions such as Washington’s
Gridiron Club and the board of the Associated Press to
admit women members, Graham became a staunch, if
discreet, feminist.

Katharine Graham to Ben Bradlee and Len Downie,
October 27, 1988
The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center

Defining “women’s news” remained problematic through
the 1980s. When First Lady Nancy Regan gave a speech in
1988 before the United Nations on curbing drug abuse, it
was covered in Style. Graham strongly objected to putting
news-making women in Style by default, writing pointedly:
“Should we change this ancient attitude?”

Marion S. Trikosko, photographer
Katharine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post,
seated at desk, April 7, 1976
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Although she often said she would have liked to win a
Pulitzer Prize for management, after retiring in 1991,
Graham ended up winning the prize with her candid
memoir, Personal History.